Artem, the male raccoon, ‘was full of determination to complete the task’ But ‘in the end he was disqualified for eating the buttons of the clothes’ Masha ‘tried to get him out of wash bowl by constantly biting his ears’

A zoo held a hilarious competition to decide whether its male raccoon or his female companion was best at washing clothes – and the fairer sex won.

The animals are famous for cleaning their food but the aim was to go one step further. A video of the stunt at Krasnoyarsk Zoo in Russia shows that ‘washing is definitely woman’s work’, reported The Siberian Times.